Music and Productivity: 5 Ideas for Using Music To Boost Performance

It's an interesting question, one I've never really thought about before. I'm sure some people really hope it does...like the ones who play music at restaurants. Many retailers and other service-type businesses use environmental music to influence the moods and behaviors of their consumers. Ever notice how some restaurants have bright lights and play music with a fast tempo? It's a completely different feel than your favorite Italian restaurant, with the soft music and dimmed lighting. The theory is that by influence environmental stimuli, one restaurant is trying to increase turnover while the other wants you to hang out and purchase that extra bottle of wine.

But what about personal productivity? Can listening to music help increase your focus, improve your efficiency, and boost your work performance?

To date, there haven't been many studies on the subject. Here's a summary of what's out there so far:

Newman & Hunt (1966): Employees enjoyed the background music, but there was no effect on their productivity.

Blood & Ferriss (1993). Background music did not make a difference in productivity, but there was a difference if the music was in a major key instead of a minor key.

Lesliuk (2005): The effect of music on work performance may be due to music making the person feel in a positive mood state.

In conclusion: it's inconclusive. Not only are there few studies on the subject, but the overall results are all over the board.

Anecdotally, many people use background music when they work. And from what we know about how music impacts brain and behavior function, there are certain things to keep in mind about the music you choose that may make it a more successful experience for you:

Use music with no words. As soon as you add words, you activate language centers in your brain, which interferes with any other language "tasks" you may need to work on (reading, writing, talking, etc.). Listen to music that doesn't include words...at least words you can understand. Enya uses words, but because of how she sings them, you can't understand what she's saying.

Silence is a kind of music. I say that music is made up of two things: sounds and silences. Silence can be just as effective as music. It may be that listening to music interferes with your ability to focus. If that's the case, try working in silence. But if music is too much, and silence too little, try a white noise machine or listen to nature-type sounds.

Listen to music you like. One theory behind why music may help increase productivity is that it helps you feel better. Music taps into the emotional centers in our brain. It can make us feel happy, sad, angry, or scared. Generally, we are more productive when in a positive mood state. So listen to music that puts you in a positive mood state. Classical, New Age, Gregorian chants, Techno...listen to music you enjoy.

Try different speeds, or tempos, of music. There are some people who claim that music at certain tempos influence certain types of brain waves (e.g. alpha, theta, etc.). Me...I'm not so sure. But I do think tempo makes a difference. Generally speaking, faster music helps us feel more energized and heightens our awareness. Slower music helps us feel more calm and relaxed. If you work better in a more energized state, have music playing that's faster and more energetic. However, it you prefer a zen-like relaxed calm when you work, listen to music that's on the slower side.

Take musical breaks. Just as you should take a 5-minute break for every hour of work, your ears need a break from music. We entrain, or get used to, the environment we are in. It's why you can sleep comfortably in your own home, but have a harder time falling asleep in a new place, with all the foreign sounds and "bumps in the night" you're not used to. Your brain will focus better if you periodically change the input it receives. From a "background music" perspective, this means occasionally turning the music off or changing the CD.

In short, if listening to music helps you work better and be more productive...then do it!

What do you think? If you have ideas and recommendations for how you use music to boost your productivity, please leave a comment in the field below.

Special thanks to Coach Claudine, who was the first to ask me about music and productivity.

Lately I've been experimenting with using music as walls. I'm working in a new environment where there is a lot of distracting noise. If I choose the right music I find I can totally block out all the distractions and isolate myself in my workspace.

I enjoyed your article! It's too bad that so few studies have been done and that the results are somewhat inconclusive. I also think it would be very interesting if a study were done to see if those individuals who are musicians (individuals who play musical instruments as a hobby, or who compose music) tend to be more productive workers or students.

Thank you for including the tips about tempo, instrumental music as opposed to music with words, and including insights about effectively using white noise. Good read!

"Music is a universal language, and needs not be translated. With it soul speaks to soul." -Berthoid Auerbach

Music is a mathematical structure. From their most primal state to present popular music, melody, chords, beats, song form and the rhythm of our surroundings, thoughts and movements are all mathematical structures.

The brain is not the only factor in the learning process. The bio rhythm is extremely important in the process. The brain remembers what has happened after the body's bio rhythm has been actively engaged.

Try these:
* Count while learning a new task or thought chain.
* Listen to wordless music while learning something new.
* Apply words of new thought chains to a rhythmic pattern.
* Then turn the music off and follow the repeat in your mind.

You will notice the thoughts associated with the patterns resurface each time you are reminded of that particular rhythmic pattern.

Nice series of articles, and this one's no exception, Kimberly! I have a line of research that is getting sent out for review soon on mathematics performance and studying while listening to music.

Although math is not "productivity," I think some of the same mechanisms are in play: anxiety from high-stress situations, mood-state issues, and cognition issues. What I've found in literature reviews:

1. Anxiety - music helps, of course. But SO many of the studies got messed up by the Mozart Effect media craze that they were not using subject-preferred music, which is our "thing" in therapy, but difficult to do large-scale, quantitative research with.

2. Mood - be in a good one, maybe music can get you there. Higher mood, higher productivity - makes sense. Even when thinking about work songs for slaves in the South back to Viking warships rowing to the beat.

3. Cognition - there seems to be no evidence of music improving cognition in terms of spatial, mathematics, reading or other academic tasks. Anxiety is down, mood is up, but music listening (and therefore processing) may interfere with working memory and confound the processes of executive function. This is separate from MEFT, though, for all you NMTers out there.

I use music daily in my kindergarten classroom - to teach rhythm, rhyme, beat, genre, instrumentation, but also to help with pre-literacy skills. I find as well, that when I'm feeling stressed, or the children are getting rambunctious, playing music helps all of us. Sometimes I play my guitar (which benefits me the most) and sometimes I use a variety of CDs.

Learning rhythm and rhyme in music helps children to learn to read - what a bonus !

I think music can influence people and make them feel happy or sad, energetic or relaxed. Music is a great escape also from the worries of life. Music also seems to go with the period of time in our lifes, whatever we mare going through may depend on the type of music we listen to. I love music and think it is healthy to listen to and enjoy. Everyone should have a favorite type or favorite musical group.

I have read the work of Csikszentmihalyi and his ideas about flow. I think what is so special about music is FLOW itself. When I am feeling confused or down, it forces my brain to keep going and keep thinking without getting stuck in a rut! Yeah!!!

I have not personally read Csikszentmihalyi's book, Flow, but my husband has and we have had lengthy discussions about the concept. Thank you for bringing it up here! That book is definitely on my "to read" list. ~Kimberly

Hi,
I have carried out PhD research on the effects of music in the workplace, and I found that music could be distracting while working, but could also help to manage other distractions in the office environment. It could be very relaxing, but only if people felt they had control over the music. Feel free to read further on www.musicatwork.net
Regards, Dr A Haake

I find that often I'll find a new song I love and end up listening to it probably 20 times until I stop paying attention to the lyrics, then I add it to my youtube list of songs I love and the lyrics don't distract me as much but I know they are songs that I love more than most of the lyric-less ones.

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